World Resources Institute - REDDhttp://www.wri.org/tags/redd
enForests Deserve More Respect When It Comes to Climate Actionhttp://www.wri.org/blog/2017/11/forests-deserve-more-respect-when-it-comes-climate-action
<div class="field field--blog-links"><hr><div class="blog-links"><div class="comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments"> Comments</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="add-comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments-form">Add Comment</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="print"><a href="/print/55621">Print</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--title"><h2>Forests Deserve More Respect When It Comes to Climate Action</h2></div><figure class="field field--field-featured-image"><div class="field__item odd"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/5263604778_8d6699e2de_o.jpg?itok=U8CTYN0a" alt="Forests are vital to climate action. Flickr/Kohei314" title="Forests are vital to climate action. Flickr/Kohei314" /></div><figcaption class="field__label">Forests are vital to climate action. Flickr/Kohei314</figcaption></figure><div class="field field--body"><p>Like the deadpan comic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Dangerfield">Rodney Dangerfield</a>, forests "don't get no respect" when it comes to their potential as a solution to climate change. A decade after tropical forests entered international climate negotiations, people now understand that losing trees to deforestation or degradation contributes to emissions, and they know more trees means more carbon dioxide taken out of the air. But, as argued in our book, <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/publication/why-forests-why-now-science-economics-and-politics-tropical-forests-and-climate-change"><em>Why Forests? Why Now?</em></a> mobilizing global action on conserving and restoring forests to address climate change is more important, more affordable and more feasible than most people think.</p>
<h3>A Big Part of the Problem. A Bigger Part of the Solution</h3>
<p>The way forest-based emissions are reported obscures the importance of deforestation as part of the current emissions problem, as well as the potential of forests as a climate solution.</p>
<p>That's because forests can be either sources or sinks, depending on how we manage them: when undisturbed, even mature forests actively capture carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, acting as a safe and natural carbon capture and storage technology.</p>
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<p>When net forest emissions are reported as a share of total global emissions, the number is the result of a subtraction: gross emissions from deforestation <em>minus</em> the carbon captured by forests through regrowth. Yet mitigation potential is an addition: gross emissions (that can be avoided by stopping deforestation) <em>plus</em> the result of the carbon capture function that can be maintained and even enhanced.</p>
<p>Halting all tropical deforestation, while allowing damaged tropical forests to recover, would reduce carbon in the atmosphere by an amount equivalent to up to 30 percent of global net emissions.</p>
<p>Recent studies by <a href="http://climatefocus.com/publications/how-improved-land-use-can-contribute-15%C2%B0c-goal-paris-agreement">Climate Focus</a> and <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/44/11645.full">The Nature Conservancy</a> have confirmed the critical role of forests in keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius, respectively.</p>
<h3>Protecting Forests Is Affordable</h3>
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<p>Including reduced tropical deforestation in global climate mitigation strategies toward the 2 degree goal would save <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/why-forests-chapter5-background-note.pdf">more than $100 billion</a> per year through 2030, even if every land-user had to be compensated for not converting forests to the most suitable agricultural crop. But even that estimate can overstate the costs of forest protection that countries would have to incur to achieve climate protection goals.</p>
<p>For one thing, much current deforestation is illegal – for example, taking place in officially protected areas, or as the result of obtaining irregular permits or impunity through corruption – and such land-users need not be compensated. During the decade starting in 2004, Brazil achieved dramatic reductions in deforestation rates in the Amazon through mostly command-and-control measures, at an out-of-pocket cost of <a href="https://www.cifor.org/library/6188/the-implementation-costs-of-forest-conservation-policies-in-brazil/">less than $5/ton</a> of avoided carbon emissions. This compares to a carbon price of <a href="https://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/Putting_a_Price_on_Carbon_Emissions.pdf">$25/ton</a> widely considered to be on the low end necessary to achieve long-term emission reduction targets in the United States.</p>
<p>Second, estimates of the cost of forest protection don't incorporate the local and regional benefits of the ecosystem services that forests provide, above and beyond carbon storage. These include, for example, roles in generating the rainfall that maintains agricultural productivity, preventing the siltation of reservoirs behind hydroelectric dams, and buffering vulnerable communities from the impacts of extreme weather events. While it is challenging to assign precise economic values to such benefits, <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2017/09/forests-and-sdgs-taking-second-look">the contributions of forests to Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty, hunger, health, water and energy are considerable</a>.</p>
<h3>Global Frameworks Are Already in Place</h3>
<p>Do we need a new "big idea" to capitalize on the potential of forests as a solution to climate change? No – we already have a global consensus on the way forward. We just need the money.</p>
<p>The Paris Agreement endorses a framework for cooperation agreed upon in Warsaw in 2013, REDD+, in which rich countries pay developing countries for their performance in reducing forest-based emissions. Various bilateral and multilateral initiatives have piloted REDD+ agreements, and the Green Climate Fund has recent approved a new $500 million fund for REDD+ results-based payments.</p>
<p>In 2014, a broad range of stakeholders came together at the United Nations Climate Summit to endorse the <a href="http://forestdeclaration.org/about/">New York Declaration on Forests</a>. Signatories to the Declaration commit to remove deforestation from commodity supply chains by 2020, and end deforestation and restore 350 million hectares of forest by 2030.</p>
<p>But as we argued in <em>Why Forests? Why Now?</em>, finance remains the missing piece. Compared to other sectors that are the focus of attention and funding to reduce emissions from fossil fuels, forests are the neglected step-child in the family of climate actions: a recently released <a href="http://forestdeclaration.org/summary/">assessment</a> of Goals 8 and 9 of the New York Declaration estimates that forests garner just over one percent of global development funds for mitigation.</p>
<p>Developing countries should take advantage of forest mitigation potential by enhancing the profile of forests in their Nationally Determined Contributions, and rich countries should commit to provide the financing commensurate with that potential.</p>
<h3>From Choir to Congregation</h3>
<p>Next Sunday, November 12 in Bonn, a "Forest Day" will bring together leaders on the forests and climate agenda from governments, the private sector, civil society, and indigenous groups under the rubric of the <a href="http://unfccc.int/files/paris_agreement/application/pdf/mpgca_workprogramme_final.pdf">Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action</a>. If similar events in the past are any guide, speakers will likely be preaching to the choir, and most attendees will be those who are already converted to the forest cause. It's time to broaden the congregation, and move forests from the margins to the mainstream of climate change discussions.</p>
</div>Tue, 07 Nov 2017 15:05:32 +0000Hayden Higgins55621 at http://www.wri.orgTurning Away from the Paris Agreement is Unpresidential — and Bad for Americahttp://www.wri.org/blog/2017/06/turning-away-paris-agreement-unpresidential-and-bad-america
<div class="field field--blog-links"><hr><div class="blog-links"><div class="comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments"> Comments</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="add-comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments-form">Add Comment</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="print"><a href="/print/48421">Print</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--title"><h2>Turning Away from the Paris Agreement is Unpresidential — and Bad for America</h2></div><figure class="field field--field-featured-image"><div class="field__item odd"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/8150209888_cd80e37b01_z.jpg?itok=QEqiOA8o" alt="Forest" title="U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is not just bad news for international climate action. It can also hurt forests and landscapes. Photo by vincentraal/Flickr" /></div><figcaption class="field__label">U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is not just bad news for international climate action. It can also hurt forests and landscapes. Photo by vincentraal/Flickr</figcaption></figure><div class="field field--body"><p><em>A version of this article was <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-turning-away-from-the-paris-agreement-is-unpresidential-and-bad-for-america-90409">originally posted</a> on Devex.com.</em></p>
<hr /><p>At least since John F. Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress, U.S. presidents have recognized the American interest in promoting prosperity in the developing world. President Donald Trump's pulling out of the Paris Agreement abdicates U.S. leadership in addressing the greatest threat to development of our time: Climate change.</p>
<p>Over the past five decades, presidents of both parties have launched initiatives to address new or newly perceived threats to global prosperity, from infectious diseases to corruption to terrorism. While what happens in Vegas might stay in Vegas, what happens in other countries doesn’t stay in those countries in an increasingly global and mobile society.</p>
<p>George W. Bush took the lead on responding to the AIDS crisis by founding the <a href="https://www.pepfar.gov/">U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief</a>, or PEPFAR; Bill Clinton’s administration targeted gender discrimination by asserting that women’s rights are human rights; Barack Obama’s administration launched the Power Africa initiative to address energy access. U.S. administrations have also recognized the mutually beneficial roles of non-aid channels for supporting prosperity through such means as trade preferences for developing countries and work visas for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.</p>
<p>And while U.S. efforts to promote development have not always been successful, they have certainly contributed to the astonishing progress made during the past half-century. Charles Kenny’s book Getting Better catalogues the many ways — better health, education, gender equality, civil and political rights — that the quality of life has improved in even the poorest countries.</p>
<p>Climate change threatens to unravel those gains. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events will place a drag on economic growth, hitting hardest in the poorest countries and households. Exposure to just one severe tropical storm like Hurricane Mitch, which slammed into Central America in 1998, can knock a country off its growth trajectory, preventing full recovery for decades. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> has inventoried the many ways climate instability will exacerbate poverty and inequality: Hunger and loss of livelihoods due to water scarcity and disruption of agro-ecosystems; sickness due to heat stress for urban laborers and increases in water- and vector-borne disease; loss of life and property due to storms and flooding.</p>
<p>Proactive steps to reduce the emissions that cause global warming and to adapt to the climate change that’s already happening would not only mitigate harm, but can also provide triple wins by benefiting the climate, development and U.S. interests. The Paris Agreement provides a framework for capturing these opportunities. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk4HwqMSBHI&amp;feature=youtu.be">Others</a> have commented on the large potential of a shift to renewable energy to provide new markets and investment opportunities. Another opportunity is provided by cooperation to conserve the world’s remaining tropical forests.</p>
<p>Article 5 of the Paris Agreement focuses on forest conservation as a particularly promising area for international cooperation. Tropical forests and peatlands — mostly in developing countries such Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia — are a significant source of global emissions, because when forests are cleared and burned, the carbon they store is released into the atmosphere. In fact, if emissions from tropical deforestation were a country, it would rank third after China and the U.S. </p>
<p>And reducing deforestation is among the least costly options for emissions abatement. The Paris Agreement provides a framework called <a href="http://www.un-redd.org/">Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation</a>, or REDD+, that enables rich countries to cooperate with developing countries by rewarding their success in reducing forest-based emissions, with payments contingent on performance.</p>
<p>But tropical forests offer more than an opportunity to reduce emissions from deforestation. Standing forests provide goods and services important for local and national development. On average, wild products collected from forests constitute <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X14000722">more than one-fifth</a> of household incomes in nearby communities. <a href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v5/n1/full/nclimate2430.html">New research</a> shows how forests generate rainfall at continental scales, and how deforestation thus threatens agricultural productivity. Forested watersheds provide access to clean energy by filling the reservoirs behind hydroelectric dams.</p>
<p>Indeed, forests contribute to achieving at least 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the international community in 2015. By contrast, deforestation is often a <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/forests-and-poverty-barking-wrong-tree">pathway to poverty</a>.</p>
<p>Beyond reducing emissions from deforestation, tropical forests are critical to meeting the Paris Agreement’s objectives in other ways. Forests — which actively pull carbon out of the air for safe-keeping in vegetation — are the only safe, natural, proven way to capture and store carbon, making them essential to achieving the medium-term mitigation goal of balancing emissions and removals.</p>
<p>With respect to adaptation, natural forest vegetation provides resilience to the extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent and severe with climate change. Villages protected by mangrove forests are buffered from coastal storms. Undamaged forests are less likely burn.</p>
<p>Indonesia’s fires in 2015 are estimated to have led to more than <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-turning-away-from-the-paris-agreement-is-unpresidential-and-bad-for-america-90409">100,000 premature deaths</a>.</p>
<p>Forested hillsides are more resistant to the landslides such as those that recently killed more than<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/death-toll-sri-lanka-mudslides-floods-exceeds-200-47737726"> 200</a> people in Sri Lanka.</p>
<p>The Paris Agreement is the best instrument for addressing these and other threats to development posed by climate change, and one that was crafted through years of negotiations shaped in large part by U.S. engagement. REDD+ in particular offers a <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/audio-frances-seymour-on-why-rich-nations-need-to-start-paying-up-to-protect-the-worlds-tropical-forests/">timely opportunity</a> for rich countries to help developing countries to meet both climate and development goals. Trump is reckless to throw it away.</p>
</div>Fri, 02 Jun 2017 17:26:55 +0000Wil Thomas48421 at http://www.wri.orgINSIDER: Why Is Good Forest Governance Crucial for Successful REDD+ Programs?http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/09/insider-why-good-forest-governance-crucial-successful-redd-programs
<div class="field field--blog-links"><hr><div class="blog-links"><div class="comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments"> Comments</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="add-comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments-form">Add Comment</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="print"><a href="/print/44446">Print</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--title"><h2>INSIDER: Why Is Good Forest Governance Crucial for Successful REDD+ Programs?</h2></div><div class="field field--body"><p>The 2015 Paris Agreement has given a new impulse for the implementation of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programs. This was confirmed at the <a href="https://www.norad.no/en/front/events/oslo-redd-exchange-20162/">Oslo REDD Exchange</a> conference, hosted by the Norwegian government last June, which was attended by 511 participants from 47 countries. The conference highlighted the importance of REDD+ for reaching the Paris Agreement's goal of reducing global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F).</p>
<p>REDD+ programs are regarded not only as an important tool for climate change mitigation, but also as a mechanism for strengthening governance of forests, promoting sustainable land-use planning, enhancing biodiversity and improving rural livelihoods. Such ambitious goals require the mobilization of significant resources. Several financing mechanisms support developing countries to develop and implement REDD+ programs, such as the World Banks’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the UN REDD Programme (UN-REDD) and bilateral funding from countries like Norway. While funding is crucial to get REDD+ programs of the ground, good forest governance is equally important to guarantee the success of programs that require the participation of a wide range of actors and sectors. National REDD+ programs need good policies and laws, a strong institutional framework, coordination among the different sectors that affect land use and transparency, and effective participation of all key stakeholders. Furthermore, monitoring systems and social and environmental safeguards need to be in place. On many of these issues, countries that are getting ready for REDD+ have made important progress.</p>
<p>A key aspect of forest governance that gets less attention is accountability, the relationship in which an actor or set of actors is held responsible for meeting a particular goal or adhering to a certain standard. Without strong accountability, REDD+ programs will not achieve their objectives and may lead to undesired impacts such as inequitable distribution of benefits, weakening of land and resource rights, and failure to achieve environmental outcomes.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.wri.org/publication/putting-accountability-practice-redd-programs">new working paper</a>, WRI’s <a href="http://www.wri.org/our-work/project/governance-forests-initiative">Governance of Forests Initiative</a> analyzes to what extent national REDD+ programs include mechanisms to promote and strengthen accountability. It reviews Emissions Reduction Program Idea Notes (ER-PINs) of 20 countries, submitted to the FCPF’s Carbon Fund. These ER-PINs lay out the activities and reforms a country has planned to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conserve forests, promote the sustainable management of forests and enhance forest carbon stocks. To review these documents, we developed a framework and set of criteria that outline key issues involved in designing REDD+ programs that strengthen accountability (Table 3). We note that the components and criteria identified in the framework are not intended to be a blueprint for achieving accountability in all situations, but to provide a simple and systematic set of criteria to evaluate accountability in design and implementation of REDD+ programs.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/uploads/redd_table_3.png"><div class="image image-left"><img src="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/uploads/redd_table_3.png" alt="" /></div></a></p>
<h3>Results</h3>
<p>The review of ER-PINs provides a snapshot of the current status of the accountability issue in recent REDD+ program design and presents some initial trends that can be addressed as REDD+ programs move forward. Figure 2 identifies the number of study countries that address each of the accountability criteria proposed in this paper. In general, REDD+ countries have made progress in embedding national governance arrangements within existing institutions and acknowledging the importance of robust consultation processes and oversight mechanisms such as Feedback and Grievance Redress Mechanisms (FGRM). However, important challenges remain, particularly in relation to defining clear institutional arrangements and standardizing rules and procedures.</p>
<p><a href="/sites/default/files/uploads/redd_figure_2.jpg"><img src="/sites/default/files/uploads/redd_figure_2.jpg" width="1082" height="840" alt="" /></a></p>
<h3>Recommendations</h3>
<p>On the basis of our research, we identify several recommendations to consider as REDD+ countries move from readiness into implementation. </p>
<ul><li><strong>Define and simplify institutional roles and powers across the different institutions engaged in REDD+.</strong> Specific mechanisms could include multi-stakeholder processes to clarify legal mandates as well as clear terms of reference for institutions, such that these actors can coordinate with one another and be held accountable for performance of their specific tasks. These approaches require an analysis of existing power dynamics among actors with roles in the REDD+ process.<br />
</li>
<li><strong>Strengthen rules and capacity to implement REDD+ programs in a transparent and participatory manner.</strong> As countries develop compliance systems for donor programs, they should also evaluate the extent to which national laws—for example, on access to information—and their implementation should be strengthened.<br />
</li>
<li><strong>Clarify monitoring and reporting roles and procedures.</strong> While significant attention has been paid to the design of MRV systems, REDD+ countries should also develop procedures to ensure adaptive management of REDD+ processes, such as dedicated procedures for sharing monitoring results with decision-making bodies such as the REDD+ Steering Committees.<br />
</li>
<li><strong>Accelerate progress on feedback and grievance redress mechanisms (GRM).</strong> Progress on developing FGRM has been slow. They should be operational prior to commencement of ER program activities and REDD+ countries should ensure that adequate readiness resources are channeled to work on FGRM.<br />
</li>
<li><strong>Improve coordination across REDD+ programs and partnerships at the national level.</strong> There is significant scope to improve coordination of REDD+ support. Both REDD+ donors operating in specific countries and governments themselves should maximize impact using roadmaps to ensure that financing and technical support are allocated on the basis of comprehensive needs assessments.</li>
</ul></div>Mon, 12 Sep 2016 19:27:12 +0000Wil Thomas44446 at http://www.wri.orgPutting Accountability Into Practice In REDD+ Programshttp://www.wri.org/publication/putting-accountability-practice-redd-programs
<a href="/publication-type/working-paper" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Working Paper</a><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/Putting_accountability_into_practice_in_REDD_programs.jpg" width="1275" height="1650" alt="" /><p>This paper presents practical ideas for REDD+ countries to consider as they implement activities that establish or strengthen accountability mechanisms. It presents a general framework for evaluating the institutions, standards, and oversight mechanisms that most countries are developing as part of their REDD+ processes.</p>
Lauren WilliamsFree De Koning<a href="/our-work/topics/governance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Governance</a><a href="/our-work/topics/forests" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Forests</a><a href="/publication-license-type/creative-commons" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Creative Commons</a><section class="field field--field-file field--downloads"><h3 class="field__label">File</h3><ul class="list--content downloads" class="field__items"><li class="download-item"><h4 class="download-label"></h4><a href="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/Putting_accountability_into_practice_in_REDD_programs.pdf" class="download-link">Download <span class="download-info">494.4 KB / pdf</span></a></li></ul></section>Lauren Williams20<p>This paper presents practical ideas for REDD+ countries to consider as they implement activities that establish or strengthen accountability mechanisms. It presents a general framework for evaluating the institutions, standards, and oversight mechanisms that most countries are developing as part...</p><p><strong>POWER RELATIONSHIPS.</strong> In general, the relationships between the myriad institutions involved in REDD+ processes are ill defined. There is a need to more explicitly define the specific accountability relationships among government institutions tasked with decision-making, implementation, consultation, monitoring, and grievance redress for REDD+ programs in order to promote clarity and ownership over different components of the REDD+ process and avoid institutional conflicts.</p>
<p><strong>FORMALIZING RULES AND PROCEDURES.</strong> Across the components of accountability, REDD+ countries rely heavily on “soft” accountability mechanisms that are largely informal in terms of their mandate or procedures. This is particularly true for discussions of participation and information. In the context of REDD+ programs, many of these processes lack a supportive legal framework or enabling structures for implementation, including clear performance standards or sanctions for noncompliance.</p>
<p><strong>GRIEVANCE REDRESS.</strong> Discussions of Feedback and Grievance Redress Mechanisms (FGRM) are underdeveloped as compared to many other elements of REDD+ programs, such as monitoring or participation. A 2013 review of 32 readiness plans found that over 90 percent of REDD+ countries recognize the potential for REDD+ activities to create conflict and 63 percent stated the importance of conflict resolution for achieving REDD+ goals. Yet, to date, limited progress has been made on putting in place functional FGRM.</p>
Featured ResourceCustom Tab<a href="/tags/forests" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">forests</a><a href="/tags/governance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">governance</a><a href="/tags/redd" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">REDD</a>Fri, 09 Sep 2016 15:09:30 +0000Wil Thomas44442 at http://www.wri.orgForests Are in the Paris Agreement! Now What?http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/01/forests-are-paris-agreement-now-what
<div class="field field--blog-links"><hr><div class="blog-links"><div class="comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments"> Comments</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="add-comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments-form">Add Comment</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="print"><a href="/print/43729">Print</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--title"><h2>Forests Are in the Paris Agreement! Now What?</h2></div><figure class="field field--field-featured-image"><div class="field__item odd"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/myanmar.jpg?itok=WMc7Mja5" alt="Myanmar forest" title="Timber elephant in Myanmar. Photo by James Anderson/WRI" /></div><figcaption class="field__label">Timber elephant in Myanmar. Photo by James Anderson/WRI</figcaption></figure><div class="field field--body"><p>International climate action isn’t just about fossil fuels anymore—forest conservation and restoration are strategies that are here to stay. The new <a href="http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01.pdf">Paris Agreement</a> adopted at COP21 sent a <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/12/paris-agreement-turning-point-climate-solution">strong, unprecedented message</a> that REDD+ is a critical and prominent piece of the new global climate goal to achieve net-zero emissions in the second half of this century. The <a href="http://www.un-redd.org/aboutredd">REDD+ program</a> aims to cut emissions by providing financial incentives—backed by international funds—to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, promote forest conservation and sustainable management, and enhance forest carbon stocks in developing countries.</p>
<p>The inclusion of REDD+ was no small feat. The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, excluded forest conservation in developing countries, where most emissions from deforestation are produced, over concerns of efficacy. Though REDD+ was brought back to the negotiating table in 2005, it took the international community another 10 years of painstaking work to address the details that previously prevented its adoption. Now REDD+ is permanently enshrined in Article 5 of the Agreement, finally providing the necessary political signal to mobilize much-needed action around forests.</p>
<p>What does this victory mean, and what comes next? Four issues are worth noting:</p>
<h3>1) Governments Rally Financial Investment; Private Sector May Follow</h3>
<p>One of the biggest impacts of the endorsement is that governments are putting their money where their mouths are. Leading up to Paris, REDD+ programs had already attracted <a href="http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_5027.pdf">an estimated $10 billion</a> in international investment, largely from government sources. At the start of COP21, the governments of Norway, Germany and the UK collectively committed <a href="http://www.norway.ph/news/Events/Germany-Norway-and-the-United-Kingdom-pledge-5-billion-to-support-forests-as-an-essential-climate-solution/#.VnLxQPkrKUk">another $5 billion</a> for REDD+ over the next five years. Such investments provide a solid monetary base to jump-start the <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/12/new-climate-commitments-forests-and-land-will-reduce-emissions-2-more-needed">ambitious forest-related climate goals</a> countries put forth in their national climate action plans (INDCs) leading up to Paris. Many are also hopeful that the permanence of the Paris Agreement language will attract new, long-term investments from other developed countries, as well as private sector actors through zero-deforestation policies and carbon markets.</p>
<h3>2) Existing Framework Will Guide Development of REDD+ Initiatives</h3>
<p>Of course money isn’t the only consideration. Far from being a philanthropic cause, REDD+ is a pay-for-performance mechanism that requires countries to prove their forest conservation programs have reduced emissions before they can receive funds. Some countries have already started developing their REDD+ measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems thanks to the <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/warsaw-climate-meeting-makes-progress-forests-redd">Warsaw Framework for REDD+</a>, finalized in the 2013 negotiations. The Framework’s guidelines on monitoring are especially important for ensuring that country efforts are transparent and consistent over time. According to the Framework, remote sensing and ground-based observations are needed to:</p>
<ul><li>Monitor area of deforestation through time;</li>
<li>Measure changes in forest carbon stocks and the amount of carbon emissions resulting from clearing; and</li>
<li>Measure progress against a historical baseline or “reference level” that may or may not be adjusted for “national circumstances.”</li>
</ul><p>As countries build their monitoring capacities, these criteria will help them do it right.</p>
<h3>3) New Data Will Improve Measurement, Reporting and Verification</h3>
<p>Even with clear guidelines, a major hurdle to implementing REDD+ programs has been lack of data—namely for measuring changes in forest area and carbon stocks and understanding the relationship between forest change and emissions to establish an accurate historical baseline. Fortunately, these data have recently become more readily available as national governments build their own forest monitoring systems and the international scientific community continues to release data into the public domain. Notable data include the <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6160/850.abstract">GLAD annual tree cover loss</a> and the Woods Hole Research Center’s <a href="http://climate.globalforestwatch.org/map/3/15.00/27.00/ALL/grayscale/none/715?threshold=30">forest biomass map</a>. The newly launched <a href="http://climate.globalforestwatch.org/">Global Forest Watch Climate</a> brings into one easy-to-use platform these and all other best available information related to forest carbon.</p>
<h3>4) REDD+ Will Likely Be Scaled Up Over Time</h3>
<p>One of the <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/12/paris-agreement-turning-point-climate-solution">key provisions</a> of the Paris Agreement is that signatory countries must meet every five years to bolster their climate actions. With the inclusion of REDD+, countries are encouraged to measure forest conservation and management as a key component of their progress. The increasing availability of data and technology will strengthen new climate commitments by enabling countries to measure progress made between meetings and identify strategic, science-based forest conservation targets for further investment. Tools like GFW Climate can help by rounding up all the best available information in one place.</p>
<h3>A Brighter Future for Forests</h3>
<p>The inclusion of forests in the final Paris Agreement may seem like a no-brainer. After all, deforestation accounts for <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_summary-for-policymakers.pdf">about 10 percent</a> of annual carbon emissions worldwide, nearly equivalent to the emissions from all cars and trucks on the planet combined. Meanwhile, protecting forests could eliminate these emissions entirely and reduce global emissions by at least <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/12/new-climate-commitments-forests-and-land-will-reduce-emissions-2-more-needed">another 2 percent</a> through enhanced carbon sequestration. Yet, it’s taken nearly two decades of negotiations and refinement to establish forest conservation as a critical component of the global efforts to fight climate change.</p>
<p>Now that the new Agreement explicitly endorses REDD+, the future is brighter for forests and their contribution to climate mitigation. New funding is coming in, the guidelines are clear, and governments and the scientific community are slowly closing the data gaps that have presented hurdles in the past. Countries finally have the resources they need to ramp up action on forests, which will be critical to achieve the goal set in the Paris Agreement of getting to net-zero emissions in the second half of this century.</p>
</div>Tue, 05 Jan 2016 16:24:48 +0000Sarah Parsons43729 at http://www.wri.orgINSIDER: What’s Your Benchmark? Using the GFW Climate Platform to Identify Clearer Targetshttp://www.wri.org/blog/2015/12/insider-what%E2%80%99s-your-benchmark-using-gfw-climate-platform-identify-clearer-targets
<div class="field field--blog-links"><hr><div class="blog-links"><div class="comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments"> Comments</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="add-comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments-form">Add Comment</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="print"><a href="/print/43577">Print</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--title"><h2>INSIDER: What’s Your Benchmark? Using the GFW Climate Platform to Identify Clearer Targets</h2></div><div class="field field--body"><p>More than ever, governments, companies and civil society organizations are committing to ambitious goals to protect the world’s remaining forests and combat emissions from deforestation. Political commitments to reduce deforestation include the <a href="http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/69/L.85&amp;Lang=E">Sustainable Development Goals</a>, the <a href="http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/New-York-Declaration-on-Forest-%E2%80%93-Action-Statement-and-Action-Plan.pdf">New York Declaration on Forests</a>, the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/">Aichi Biodiversity Targets</a>, UN Convention on Climate Change decisions on <a href="http://unfccc.int/land_use_and_climate_change/redd/items/8180.php">REDD+</a> and hundreds of corporate <a href="http://supply-change.org/">commitments </a>for deforestation free supply chains.</p>
<p>This is good progress, but how can we move beyond commitments to global action for forests? And what benchmark should we use to monitor progress?</p>
<p>Around the world, forest data are collected at different scales for different reasons; such as for national forest inventories, ecological research and land use planning. But these data are often collected using different methods, are not accessible to the public, or are scattered across different formats making them hard to aggregate and compare. This causes significant misunderstandings, and can also undermine progress. Consider the discussions on benchmarks, usually expressed as the annual rate of deforestation or emissions from deforestation. These <a href="http://www.climateandlandusealliance.org/uploads/PDFs/Understanding_Land_Use_in_the_UNFCCC.pdf">negotiations</a> can become so complex and nuanced that they serve to keep out all but a very small group of experts.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalforestwatch.org/">Global Forest Watch</a> helps build the movement towards open data and decision-relevant information on the assumption that improved transparency and access to information leads to better forest management. The new <a href="http://climate.globalforestwatch.org/">Global Forest Watch Climate</a> platform, <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/12/new-platform-reveals-how-much-carbon-locked-tropical-forests-%E2%80%93-and-how-much-was-lost">launched today</a>, brings new data and analytical tools that widen access to useful information data around greenhouse gas emissions from tropical deforestation and its effects on global climate change.</p>
<p>Here are five recommendations for monitoring progress on these commitments through GFW Climate:</p>
<h3>Focus on the Tropics</h3>
<p>Several recent <a href="http://blog.cifor.org/34669/can-we-trust-country-level-data-from-global-forest-assessments?fnl=en">articles </a>have highlighted substantial differences between global forest change data sets, stressing the need for improved and consolidated international statistics on forest changes. There are many reasons for these differences, including various definitions of key terms like “forest” and “deforestation.”</p>
<p>Most <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/j9345e/j9345e07.htm">definitions </a>of deforestation involve converting natural forest to a new land use, most often in the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2486.1995.tb00026.x/abstract">tropics </a>as forests are converted for agricultural commodities production. Tropical countries therefore also have the most to contribute towards deforestation reduction. Let’s start there.</p>
<h3>Focus on Greenhouse Gases, Not Area of Land</h3>
<p>Concern about climate change is a primary motivator for many of the deforestation commitments made to date. However, when it comes to climate, focusing only on the area of deforestation (as measured in hectares or square miles) ignores the fact that different forests can release vastly different quantities of greenhouse gases upon clearing. For example, converting <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/what-is-peat-swamp-and-why-should-i-care/">tropical peat swamp forest</a> in Indonesia to oil palm causes emissions from the cleared vegetation, emissions from burning peat to clear the land before planting, and emissions from continuous peat oxidation once drained for agriculture. Hectare for hectare and acre for acre, clearing these landscapes is much worse for the climate than clearing other degraded lands that store less carbon.</p>
<p>GFW Climate’s strategic focus on greenhouse gas emissions, rather than just the area of deforestation, will help prioritize interventions for some of the world’s most carbon-dense and often ecologically valuable forests, ensuring that reductions in forest loss result in gains for the climate.</p>
<h3>Focus on Trends</h3>
<p>“One point does not a trend make”. Data from individual years provides a snapshot that can tell an incomplete or even incorrect story. With monitoring systems that track deforestation consistently year after year, trends in gross deforestation and differences among countries are easier to monitor, regardless of the data source.</p>
<p>In a new analysis in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13153/full">Global Change Biology</a>, we used GFW Climate data to set a pantropical deforestation emissions benchmark of 2.27 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year against which to measure global progress towards deforestation emission reductions. The analysis also shows that despite substantial emissions reductions in Brazil since 2004, these have been largely offset by significant increases in deforestation from other tropical countries, both those that signed the New York Declaration on Forests as well as those that did not. GFW Climate provides a <a href="http://climate.globalforestwatch.org/map/">visualization </a>of these trends.</p>
<h3>Focus on Improving Data Over Time</h3>
<p>Science and technology continue to improve at an astounding pace; the “best” data today will certainly not be the best data ten or even three years from now. Ideally, every country will develop a forest monitoring system that yields transparent, complete, accurate and consistent data capable of tracking all land use transitions and their associated greenhouse gas emissions and removals.</p>
<p>Brazil currently leads the way. Since 1988 the <a href="http://www.inpe.br/ingles/">Brazilian Space Agency</a> (INPE) has monitored deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon on an annual basis, with results that are widely reported and recognized as credible and transparent. Many other countries such as Guyana, Colombia and Ecuador have invested in, or are developing, forest monitoring programs and are making great strides. Data from these country-led efforts are included on the country profile pages of GFW Climate, and more will be added as they emerge.</p>
<p>Advanced monitoring systems take time and resources to establish, and national circumstances will dictate the details of each system. In the meantime, globally consistent data sets such as University of Maryland’s<a href="http://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/science-2013-global-forest/download_v1.2.html"> tree cover change data</a> and Woods Hole Research Center’s new <a href="http://data-1.gfw.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/d87217b5732347ab8a04ef8ffacff1fd_8">30 m tropical forest biomass map</a> on GFW Climate will help monitor collective progress, guide improved data collection and focus resources towards more effective interventions.</p>
<h3>Focus on Now</h3>
<p>Perhaps the forest monitoring community should adopt the credo of American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson: “For me, I am driven by two main philosophies; know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.”</p>
<p>We will continue to know more about forests than we do today as monitoring programs improve across the world, both on the ground and through advances in remote sensing technology. But the more time we spend citing lack of consensus on data or methods as a reason not to act, the more human suffering will be caused by the effects of climate change, particularly in regions least equipped to adapt. Elevating public awareness of tropical deforestation’s effects on the atmosphere through tools like GFW Climate can help change the status quo.</p>
<p>Climate change does not follow national borders. To the extent that emissions from deforestation represent the largest and most immediate opportunity for climate change mitigation in the land use sector, it is in our collective interest to support tropical forest countries in their transition away from a dependence on natural resource depletion towards the preservation of forest landscapes. You’d be surprised how far that gets us.</p>
<p><i>Read more about how to use GFW Climate to measure emissions from tropical deforestation on our <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/12/new-platform-reveals-how-much-carbon-locked-tropical-forests-%E2%80%93-and-how-much-was-lost">blog</a>.</i></p>
</div>Tue, 01 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000James Anderson43577 at http://www.wri.orgRELEASE: Nirarta “Koni” Samadhi, Former Deputy Minister of Indonesian Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight, to Head WRI Indonesiahttp://www.wri.org/news/2015/01/release-nirarta-%E2%80%9Ckoni%E2%80%9D-samadhi-former-deputy-minister-indonesian-unit-development
<h1 class="page-title"><a href="/news/2015/01/release-nirarta-%E2%80%9Ckoni%E2%80%9D-samadhi-former-deputy-minister-indonesian-unit-development">RELEASE: Nirarta “Koni” Samadhi, Former Deputy Minister of Indonesian Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight, to Head WRI Indonesia</a></h1><div class="field field--body"><p><strong>WASHINGTON (January 12, 2015)—</strong> The World Resources Institute has appointed <strong>Dr. Nirarta “Koni” Samadhi</strong>, former deputy minister of Indonesia’s Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight (UKP4), as the new country director of WRI Indonesia. Dr. Koni and WRI have worked together over many years, and he joins WRI Indonesia at a time when its work in the forest, land use, and governance sectors is expanding.</p>
<p>“Pak Koni joins WRI Indonesia at a crucial time,” said <strong>Dr. Andrew Steer</strong>, President and CEO, WRI. “As Indonesia emerges as one of the most important global players on forests, commodities, climate change and economic growth, there is growing demand for credible, unbiased, and independent analysis. WRI is committed to playing an active role with Indonesia’s new administration and to supporting policies that drive inclusive and sustainable development.”</p>
<p>While at UKP4, Dr. Koni played a leading role in designing policies such as Indonesia’s groundbreaking <a href="/blog/2014/01/2-things-you-need-know-about-indonesias-forest-moratorium">forest moratorium</a>, establishing Indonesia’s new REDD+ agency (<a href="http://www.reddplus.go.id/">BP REDD+</a>), and driving the <a href="/blog/2013/05/conversation-nirarta-%E2%80%9Ckoni%E2%80%9D-samadhi-indonesia%E2%80%99s-forests">OneMap</a> Initiative to harmonize Indonesia’s land use planning. Dr. Koni previously served as chair of the Working Group on Moratorium Monitoring, was part of the Indonesia REDD+ Task Force, and worked with the UNDP as a strategic planning advisor and head of Papua Accelerated Development (PADU) Advance Team.</p>
<p>“Pak Koni has been an important and highly-respected player in Indonesia’s forest monitoring and land use planning for many years,” said <strong>Dr. Nigel Sizer</strong>, Global Director of the Forests Program. “We are excited to have his leadership in Indonesia, where transparency and forest management are such critical issues.”</p>
<p>Dr. Koni has joined WRI to lead its newest international office, which opened in Jakarta in late 2014. WRI Indonesia programs currently focus on advancing sustainability in <a href="http://commodities.globalforestwatch.org/#v=home">commodities</a>, such as palm oil, preventing deforestation, <a href="http://fires.globalforestwatch.org/#v=home&amp;x=115&amp;y=0&amp;l=5&amp;lyrs=Active_Fires">reducing land fires</a>, and using <a href="http://www.globalforestwatch.org/">Global Forest Watch</a> to improve monitoring and management of forests. WRI Indonesia assists the government, businesses, and communities with <a href="/resources/data-visualizations/idea-behind-potico-palm-oil-indonesia">land use planning</a>, and improving the transparency of land allocation. WRI Indonesia also works on <a href="http://www.wri.org/our-work/project/forest-and-landscape-restoration">forest and landscape restoration</a>, and aims to expand into other areas such as food, water, cities, energy, transportation, and cities, consistent with WRI’s global mission and priorities.</p>
<p>“During my tenure at UKP4, I observed that WRI was consistent in contributing significant work to improve environmental management, and I would like to expand and tailor the organization’s contribution for the people of Indonesia,” said <strong>Koni</strong>. “WRI Indonesia will work with all stakeholders and promote innovations to help ensure that the new administration, as well as sub-national governments, will deliver sustainable development programs.”</p>
<p>For more information on WRI Indonesia, visit <a href="/geography/indonesia">http://www.wri.org/geography/indonesia</a>.</p>
</div><div class="block block--callout"><h3 class="block-title">Contact</h3><ul class="block-content list--ruled"><li class="list-item odd"><article class="l--namecard node node-person mode-namecard view-mode-namecard" about="/profile/daniel-melling" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document">
<figure class="l-photo ">
<a href="/profile/daniel-melling"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/styles/profile/public/daniel-melling-wri.jpg?itok=V1SuJO6z" width="180" height="180" alt="" /></a> </figure>
<div class="l-info">
<h4 class="person-name">
<span rel="sioc:has_creator"><a href="/profile/daniel-melling">Daniel Melling</a></span> </h4>
<div class="field field--field-internal-function">Communications Specialist</div>
</div>
</article>
</li></ul></div><div class="field field--field-news-type field--type">Press Release</div><div class="field field--field-project field--supplement"><label class="field__label">Project:&nbsp;</label><span class="field__item odd"><a href="/our-work/project/forests-and-landscapes-indonesia">Forests and Landscapes in Indonesia</a></span>, <span class="field__item even"><a href="/our-work/project/global-restoration-initiative">Global Restoration Initiative</a></span>, <span class="field__item odd"><a href="/our-work/project/global-forest-watch">Global Forest Watch</a></span></div><div class="field field--field-geography field--supplement"><label class="field__label">Geography:&nbsp;</label><span class="field__item odd"><a href="/geography/indonesia">Indonesia</a></span></div><div class="field field--field-topics field--supplement"><label class="field__label">Topics:&nbsp;</label><span class="field__item odd"><a href="/our-work/topics/climate">Climate</a>, <a href="/our-work/topics/forests">Forests</a>, <a href="/our-work/topics/sustainable-cities">WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities</a></span></div>Wed, 28 Jan 2015 14:49:54 +0000Daniel Melling42539 at http://www.wri.orgCOP20 Lays the Groundwork for Paris Climate Pact: 7 Key Developmentshttp://www.wri.org/blog/2014/12/cop20-lays-groundwork-paris-climate-pact-7-key-developments
<div class="field field--blog-links"><hr><div class="blog-links"><div class="comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments"> Comments</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="add-comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments-form">Add Comment</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="print"><a href="/print/42459">Print</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--title"><h2>COP20 Lays the Groundwork for Paris Climate Pact: 7 Key Developments</h2></div><figure class="field field--field-featured-image"><div class="field__item odd"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/15302402524_3becee33df_1.jpg?itok=FT5NkDI6" alt="Participants at December 2014 international climate conference. (Lima, Peru) Photo via Compfight." title="Participants at December 2014 international climate conference. (Lima, Peru) Photo via Compfight." /></div><figcaption class="field__label">Participants at December 2014 international climate conference. (Lima, Peru) Photo via Compfight.</figcaption></figure><div class="field field--body"><p></p><blockquote>Editor's Note, December 15, 2014: The "Finance" section of this post has been updated to reflect more current information.</blockquote>
<p>After two weeks of difficult negotiations and a nail-biting finale, delegates in Lima laid the groundwork for a successful international climate agreement in Paris next year.
More than a full day after the talks formally ended, delegates sealed the deal on two main tasks at COP20:</p>
<ul><li><p>They decided on a draft text which will be used as a basis for negotiations leading up to the December 2015 Paris summit;</p></li>
<li><p>They agreed on what information countries must share as they prepare their national climate action plans beyond 2020. Countries are now hard at work figuring out what targets and actions they can share by March or soon after.</p></li>
</ul><p>The momentum heading into Lima was significant. In September, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets around the world to demand action. Companies and investors declared their commitment to a low-carbon world, while cities showcased their climate leadership on the world stage at the New York Climate Summit. Last month the United States and China—the world’s two largest emitters—broke new ground with an unprecedented agreement to curb their emissions, shortly after the European Union announced its target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. And dozens of countries pledged a total of $10 billion to the Green Climate Fund to help countries prepare for climate impacts and make the transition to a low-carbon economy. These developments set the stage for important outcomes both inside and outside the UN negotiations in Lima.</p>
<p>Leaders from South America (Chile, Colombia, Mexico) played a particularly important role both in their support for the Peruvian presidency but also through specific announcements to take further action.</p>
<p>Here’s a breakdown of the most significant developments at COP20, the 20th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC: highlights from the draft negotiating text; information and assessment of countries’ actions; finance; adaptation and loss and damage; pre-2020 ambition; forests and restoration, and cities.</p>
<h3>1. Highlights from the Draft Negotiating Text</h3>
<p>The most inspiring development in Lima was an outpouring of support for a long-term effort to reduce emissions. Over 100 countries now advocate for a long-term mitigation goal. This would send a strong signal that the low-carbon economy is inevitable. Support grew for establishing regular cycles to review and strengthen countries’ actions to curb emissions, adapt to climate change and support low-carbon growth. These cycles of improvement are critical to ensure the Paris agreement drives climate action for not years but decades to come.</p>
<h3>2. Information and Assessment of Contributions</h3>
<p>In Warsaw last year, it was decided that every country should offer an<a href="http://www.wri.org/indc-definition"> Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs</a>, by March 2015, for those in a position to do so. A key issue in Lima was how countries’ proposed contributions will be presented and assessed before Paris. The outcome adopted is a very important step that requires countries to provide significant information when they put forward their proposed contributions, such as key details about the sectors and gases that are covered and methodological and accounting approaches. In addition, countries will have to describe how fair and ambitious their actions will be. WRI’s <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/12/building-climate-equity-and-international-consensus-ground">Building Climate Equity</a> report provides a useful tool to compare different ways of defining equity. This information will help enable comparisons amongst countries’ actions and clarity about how countries’ collective efforts add up to meeting the goal of keeping global mean temperature rise below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F). This is one of the most important parts of the Lima agreement as countries develop and submit their INDCs in March 2015. Although the requirements are not mandatory, they lay the foundation for a transparent post-2020, and will assist in creating peer pressure between countries as they prepare their national contributions. The Lima decision also includes a mandate for the UNFCCC Secretariat to publish an analysis that aggregates all the contributions – providing a benchmark for how they add up, or not, to staying below 2 degrees C.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the agreement failed to create a forum for countries to present and discuss their contributions. This is a missed opportunity for a constructive discussion to build understanding and confidence. WRI will be providing <a href="http://cait.wri.org/pledges">analysis about country contributions</a>. This decision could have also included an opportunity for the public to comment on national contributions, but that proposal did not survive the negotiations.</p>
<p>These issues could be included in the Paris agreement itself and will likely be key topic for negotiation in 2015. It will be vital to have a more robust assessment phase to view and ramp up ambition.</p>
<h3>3. Finance</h3>
<p>The Lima talks were buoyed from the start by major contributions to the <a href="http://www.wri.org/tags/green-climate-fund">Green Climate Fund</a> in the weeks before COP20. With additional contributions in the second week of the negotiations, the fund crossed the $10 billion mark. This was an important milestone to both demonstrate the confidence of donor countries in the GCF and build trust with developing countries that the funds would flow. A total of 27 countries pledged contributions, including five developing countries—Peru, Colombia, Mexico, South Korea and Mongolia. These resources offer a strong foundation for the Green Climate Fund to start committing resources to urgent priorities on the ground, from building climate resilience to helping foster low-carbon economies and technologies.</p>
<p>Inside the negotiations, progress was slow on how to adequately fund climate action, but there was an agreement around the elements of a negotiating text that will form the basis of next year’s Paris agreement, including crafting a post-2020 regime on finance. While the Lima Decision “urges” Developed countries to provide support, finance was not explicitly included as a requirement of country INDCs. Negotiators will therefore need to find another anchor point for national commitments on finance in the Paris agreement.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://unfccc.int/documentation/documents/advanced_search/items/3594.php?rec=j&amp;priref=600008243#beg">decision on long-term climate finance</a> did not elaborate a roadmap on how to developed countries can fulfill their commitment to jointly mobilize $100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020. However, the COP did request that developed countries use their <a href="http://www4.unfccc.int/submissions/SitePages/sessions.aspx?showOnlyCurrentCalls=1&amp;populateData=1&amp;expectedsubmissionfrom=Parties&amp;focalBodies=COP">biennial submissions on scaling up climate finance</a> to “enhance the available quantitative and qualitative elements of a pathway.” WRI’s <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/12/estimating-climate-finance-mobilization-toward-100-billion-and-beyond">work with the OECD on estimating private finance mobilization</a> through public interventions can be useful for these reporting requirements, and can help provide greater clarity on how the $100 billion goal will be met.</p>
<p>Much more progress on finance is required to secure a global agreement in Paris. While the basic elements of a draft negotiating text are in place, negotiators will need to work hard over the next year to decide on what the Paris Agreement will specify about sources, channels, allocation, and levels of climate finance in the post-2020 world. Negotiators will need to find a balance between what they desire and what is feasible. Collaboration and compromise will be essential to mobilize more climate finance and galvanize a shift of trillions of dollars from high-carbon to low-carbon economic growth.</p>
<h3>4. Adaptation to Climate Impacts</h3>
<p>The Lima conference arguably saw more serious attention to adaptation than any previous conference of the parties to the UNFCCC. Developing countries pushed for adaptation to get equal billing with mitigation in the Paris agreement, raising its profile to new heights. The strong interest in adaptation in Lima—where adaptation negotiating sessions were standing-room-only—is undoubtedly connected with the urgent need to respond to severe climate impacts countries are already facing, from record-breaking floods and scorching heat waves to a steady increase in sea level rise.</p>
<p>A hard-fought decision in Lima was whether to include adaptation and mitigation in countries’ national contributions. Some developed countries wanted to limit national contributions to mitigation only, but developing countries argued that their efforts to build resilience to climate impacts should be recognized. In the end, countries decided that adaptation can be included but offered limited guidance on what information should be provided on adaptation efforts. How these contributions might be assessed remains unclear.</p>
<p>However, negotiators did achieve clarity in two areas: They agreed to improve the process of how national adaptation planning is reported and they affirmed a work plan to focus on the issue of loss and damage—how to address the consequences of climate change that cannot be fully addressed through adaptation (i.e. the submergence of islands in sea water, the loss of crop varieties in a region, etc.). Over the next two years, countries will map out loss and damage activities and needs, develop analytic tools and share best practices.</p>
<p>Between now and the Paris meeting, negotiators will aim to accelerate efforts on adaptation and loss and damage by determining how to:</p>
<ul><li><p>unpack a global adaptation goal in the Paris agreement;</p></li>
<li><p>structure a continuous improvement cycle for adaptation that builds on national adaptation planning and contributions;</p></li>
<li><p>secure the foundations to address the loss and damages that occur when adaptation and mitigation fail to prevent climate change impacts;</p></li>
<li><p>ensure that developing countries have enough resources to build resilience to climate impacts.</p></li>
</ul><p>Loss and damage is a fundamental issue for many delegations, and in a final intervention, Tuvalu made a particular case for it to be included directly in the Agreement in Paris.</p>
<h3>5. Pre-2020 Ambition</h3>
<p>Beyond the issue of the post-2020 agreement, in Lima there was a big focus on what additional actions countries could take now to seize opportunities to cut emissions further and faster. An entire track of negotiations was dedicated to advancing this important issue.</p>
<p>Over the last year, a series of technical expert meetings brought to light promising ways countries can shift to low-carbon economies. In Lima, the UNFCCC established a process to use what they learned to spur more ambitious short-term climate action.</p>
<p>Countries decided to continue to share their experiences to curb emissions, identify the best policy options to achieve the highest mitigation potential and continue technical expert meetings about action through 2020. The Lima Climate Action High Level Meeting highlighted the actions of the private sector, pension funds, cities and indigenous peoples and started the tradition of having a high level forum every year. With this new forum, on-the-ground progress will fuel the climate talks for years to come.</p>
<h3>6. Forests and Restoration</h3>
<p>Last year, <a href="http://www.wri.org/tags/redd">REDD+</a><a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/warsaw-climate-meeting-makes-progress-forests-redd"> made so much progress</a>—on financing, transparency and safeguards, and monitoring and verification—that there wasn’t much left to do at this climate meeting. One of the few REDD+ topics discussed in Lima was further clarifying safeguards. Countries ultimately decided not to elaborate more on this point. While some countries found this disappointing, others interpreted this to mean that countries can decide for themselves how to report on safeguards.</p>
<p>In addition, Brazil, followed by Indonesia, Colombia, Guyana, Malaysia and Mexico, took the next step of <a href="http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=10676&amp;section=news_articles&amp;eod=1">submitting their reference levels</a> to benchmark their emissions from deforestation, paving the way to start receiving performance-based payments for forest conservation and restoration.</p>
<p>Just as notable were innovations showcased outside the official COP at the <a href="http://www.landscapes.org/">Global Landscapes Forum</a>. By far the biggest development was the launch of <a href="http://www.initiative20x20.com/">Initiative 20x20</a>, a Latin American country-led initiative to <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/12/reducing-latin-america%E2%80%99s-carbon-footprint-means-restoring-life-degraded-lands">restore 20 million hectares of degraded land</a>—an area larger than Uruguay. Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Costa Rica and two regional programs <a href="http://www.wri.org/news/2014/12/release-latin-american-and-caribbean-countries-and-regional-programs-launch-initiative">announced</a> ambitious plans to reforest areas to help capture carbon, enhance biodiversity, improve livelihoods, and make agricultural lands more productive. Five impact investment firms joined the effort by committing $365 million in activities to recover cloud forests, avoid deforestation, boost climate-resilient sustainable agriculture and more.</p>
<p>New <a href="http://dapa.ciat.cgiar.org/new-remote-sensing-developments-for-forest-monitoring-at-global-landscapes-forum/">advances in satellite forest monitoring and carbon mapping were unveiled at Lima</a>, along with a new partnership between <a href="http://www.globalforestwatch.org/">Global Forest Watch</a> with the Peruvian Forests and Wildlife Resources Control Agency (OSINFOR) to <a href="http://www.andina.com.pe/agencia/noticia-convenio-permitira-medir-depredacion-bosques-y-reforestacion-selva-peruana-534868.aspx">share data and expanded monitoring</a> of Peru’s extensive forests.</p>
<h3>7. Cities</h3>
<p>On December 8, mayors and experts converged on the historic City Hall of Lima to share experiences and advance local climate action. Over the course of that day, participating cities – including Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Paris, Mexico City and many others – highlighted best practices, committed to step up efforts to curb emissions and called for greater ambition at the international level.</p>
<p>The most significant outcome for cities in Lima was the launch of the <a href="http://www.ghgprotocol.org/city-accounting">Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC)</a> which was developed in partnership by WRI, C40 and ICLEI. The first step to take action on city emissions is to identify and measure where they come from, but that has proved challenging without a consistent way to measure city-level emissions. The <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/12/hundreds-cities-poised-replicate-rio%E2%80%99s-approach-measuring-and-reducing-emissions">GPC resolves that problem</a>, offering the first global emissions standard for cities to consistently track their performance and set credible emissions reduction targets.</p>
<h3>A Global Climate Agreement Within Reach</h3>
<p>Though much hard work remains, the Lima climate summit brings a global climate agreement in Paris within reach.</p>
<p>As delegates and stakeholders head home and begin to envision a positive outcome for Paris, we encourage them to closely analyze the comprehensive proposal, <a href="http://www.wri.org/publication/elements-and-ideas-2015-paris-agreement">Elements and Ideas for the 2015 Paris Agreement</a>. Published in Lima by ACT 2015, a global consortium of think tanks, the <a href="http://www.wri.org/act2015">Agreement on Climate Transformation 2015</a> (ACT2015) recommends long-term goals on mitigation and adaptation and five-year cycles for assessing countries’ actions. Informed by hundreds of negotiators, government representatives and stakeholders around the world, the proposal offers a realistic pathway to securing an agreement that can stand the test of time and help make the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient future. We believe that this paper could help negotiators and the wider international community to navigate through the various options available into the current draft negotiating text and help them not lose sight of what critical functions the <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/12/blueprint-effective-international-climate-agreement">Paris agreement should fulfill</a>.</p>
</div>Mon, 15 Dec 2014 00:18:16 +0000Deborah Zabarenko42459 at http://www.wri.orgNew Study Reveals Weaknesses in Brazil’s Forest and Environmental Fundshttp://www.wri.org/blog/2014/08/new-study-reveals-weaknesses-brazil%E2%80%99s-forest-and-environmental-funds
<div class="field field--blog-links"><hr><div class="blog-links"><div class="comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments"> Comments</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="add-comments"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8569/feed#comments-form">Add Comment</a></div><div class="pipe">|</div><div class="print"><a href="/print/42072">Print</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--title"><h2>New Study Reveals Weaknesses in Brazil’s Forest and Environmental Funds</h2></div><figure class="field field--field-featured-image"><div class="field__item odd"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/brazil_amazon.jpg?itok=1eie9aMH" alt="A new study evaluates government-managed funds meant to protect Brazil&#039;s Amazon rainforest. Photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT for Center for International Forestry Research" title="A new study evaluates government-managed funds meant to protect Brazil&#039;s Amazon rainforest. Photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT for Center for International Forestry Research" /></div><figcaption class="field__label">A new study evaluates government-managed funds meant to protect Brazil's Amazon rainforest. Photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT for Center for International Forestry Research</figcaption></figure><div class="field field--body"><p>As developing countries move forward with <a href="https://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/what-redd">plans</a> to cut greenhouse gas emissions by safeguarding their forests (known as REDD+), it’s imperative that they follow the money.</p>
<p>Brazil is a case in point. The country is a big investor in environmental stewardship, including several government-managed funds meant to protect the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. However, <a href="http://www.imazon.org.br/publicacoes/livros/governanca-de-fundos-ambientais-e-florestais-na-amazonia-legal">new analysis</a> published by two civil society partners of WRI’s <a href="http://www.wri.org/our-work/project/governance-forests-initiative">Governance of Forests Initiative</a> in Brazil -- <a href="http://www.imazon.org.br/">IMAZON</a> and <a href="http://www.icv.org.br/">Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV)</a> -- shows the funds aren’t being properly managed.</p>
<p>The study assessed how state environmental agencies are managing 11 forest and environmental funds in nine states of the Brazilian Amazon, and found significant governance weaknesses in all of the funds. These weaknesses could undermine the effectiveness of these funds to help environmental programs protect forests and mitigate climate change.</p>
<p><aside class="sidebar"></p>
<h3>Study Methodology</h3>
<p>The study used <a href="http://www.wri.org/publication/assessing-forest-governance">governance indicators</a> to examine the quality of the rules and practices governing fund management, including:</p>
<ul><li><p>Public participation in the creation and revision of rules for funding</p></li>
<li><p>Clarity of rules for collection and distribution of resources</p></li>
<li><p>Clarity of administrative responsibilities</p></li>
<li><p>Forestry expertise</p></li>
<li><p>Administrative capacity</p></li>
<li><p>Financial monitoring</p></li>
<li><p>Monitoring of fund impacts and effectiveness</p></li>
</ul><p></aside></p>
<h3>Governance Analysis Reveals Critical Gaps</h3>
<p>Each state of the Brazilian Amazon has designated at least one state-level fund that supports environmental programs. These funds are administered by environmental agencies and are an important source of financing for <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/places/amazon">protection of the Amazon rainforest</a>. The study compares the design and operation of these funds with a set of governance criteria derived from WRI’s <a href="http://www.wri.org/publication/assessing-forest-governance">Governance of Forests Initiative Indicator Framework</a>.</p>
<p>The analysis identified critical weaknesses in how funds are managed (see chart below). For example, most agencies did not have sufficient staff or budgets to administer funds. In most cases, rules governing the state funds also did not set out clear procedures for how funds were collected and used. Fewer than half of the funds ensured public participation in determining how the fund was structured or used. Finally, few of the funds regularly monitored performance or provided financial reports to the public.</p>
<p><div class="image image-center"><img src="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/uploads/brazil_governance_0.png" alt="" /></div></p>
<h3>Improving Governance through Transparency</h3>
<p>But there is reason for hope. Past work by IMAZON and ICV has already shown that this type of analysis can play a critical role in strengthening governance.</p>
<p>For example, an <a href="http://www.imazon.org.br/publications/the-state-of-amazon/governance-deficiencies-of-environmental-and-forest-funds-in-para-and-mato-grosso-en">earlier version of this study</a> published in 2011 focused only on the state funds in Mato Grosso and Pará. The study helped prompt an investigation by Brazil’s state prosecutors, which found that almost $9 million USD had been diverted from the Mato Grosso fund (FEMAM) to the State Treasury to cover other expenses such as government payroll. A judicial action brought by the state prosecutors got the money returned to the state environmental agency and prompted the formation of a special commission to improve the fund’s transparency.</p>
<p>The work of ICV and IMAZON demonstrates how governance weaknesses can be exposed through <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/4-reasons-assessing-governance-matters-forests-and-people">systematic, indicator-based research</a>. It also underscores the importance of strong oversight to make sure institutions entrusted with managing public finance use funds for their intended purposes.</p>
<h3>Strengthening Financial Governance Is Critical for Brazil’s Forests</h3>
<p>The study’s findings hold important implications for the future of Brazil’s forest ecosystems, and potentially for the country’s efforts to mitigate climate change through programs to <a href="http://www.un-redd.org/aboutredd/tabid/102614/default.aspx">reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+)</a>. While Brazil has yet to finalize a national REDD+ strategy, several states of the Amazon are <a href="http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=9524&amp;section=home">moving forward</a> with efforts to reduce deforestation that may involve channeling REDD+ payments through the existing funds reviewed in the IMAZON and ICV study. It’s clear that if the funds analyzed in this study are used to channel REDD+ financial flows, their governance must first be significantly strengthened.</p>
<p>The study also has broader lessons for countries in the process of designing and implementing national REDD+ programs. Building capacity for effective revenue management has received <a href="http://www.wri.org/publication/putting-pieces-together-good-governance-redd">relatively little emphasis</a> in REDD+ readiness discussions to date. As more developing countries move forward with setting up their REDD+ programs, strengthening systems for transparent and accountable management of financing is essential to ensure success.</p>
<ul><li><strong>LEARN MORE:</strong> Visit our <a href="http://www.wri.org/our-work/project/governance-forests-initiative">Governance of Forests Initiative website</a> for more information about our REDD+ work in Brazil, Indonesia, and the Congo Basin. </li>
</ul></div>Fri, 29 Aug 2014 15:38:10 +0000Sarah Parsons42072 at http://www.wri.orgSecuring Rights, Combating Climate Changehttp://www.wri.org/events/2014/07/securing-rights-combating-climate-change
<h2>How Strengthening Community Forest Rights Mitigates Climate Change</h2>
<p>World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Resources and Rights Initiative (RRI) unveil the report <strong><em><a href="http://www.wri.org/securingrights">Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change: How Strengthening Community Forest Rights Mitigates Climate Change</a></em></strong>.</p>
<p>This eye opening analysis will offer the most comprehensive review to date linking legal recognition and government protection of community forest rights with healthier forests and reduced carbon pollution from deforestation. More than 11 percent of global emissions are due to deforestation and other land use, and this new analysis offers an exciting and largely untapped tool to help reduce global emissions.</p>
<p>As we head toward the next round of international climate negotiations in Lima, Peru and Paris in 2015, this report and discussion will offer a fresh perspective for how strengthening rights of local and indigenous communities can be an exceptionally powerful tool for climate action and forest protection. Armed with the report’s results, practitioners and policy makers should be convinced that safeguarding forest rights is as crucial of a climate solution as others like REDD+, renewable energy and low-carbon urban design.</p>
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<h2>Agenda:</h2>
<p><strong>8:30 a.m. Networking Breakfast</strong></p>
<p><strong>9:30 a.m. Featured Speakers</strong></p>
<ul><li><strong>Andy White</strong>, <em>Coordinator</em>, Rights and Resources Initiative</li>
<li><strong>Andrew Steer</strong>, <em>President and CEO</em>, World Resources Institute</li>
</ul><div align="center"><iframe src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/37316272?rel=0" width="600" height="500" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;" allowfullscreen=""> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/WorldResources/securing-rights-combating-climate-change" title="Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change" target="_blank">Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/WorldResources" target="_blank">World Resources Institute (WRI)</a></strong> </div></div>
<p></p>
<p><strong>10:00 a.m. Expert Reflections</strong></p>
<ul><li><strong>Dan Reifsnyder</strong>, <em> Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs</em>, US Department of State</li>
<li><strong>Vicky Tauli-Corpuz</strong>, <em>UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</em></li>
<li><strong>Caleb Stevens</strong>, <em>Property Rights Specialist</em>, World Resources Institute</li>
</ul><p><strong>10:15 a.m. Q&amp;A with Media</strong></p>
<p><strong>10:30 a.m. Discussion with Global Experts</strong></p>
<ul><li><strong>Andrew Steer</strong>, <em>President and CEO</em>, World Resources Institute (Moderator)</li>
<li><strong>Luiz Carlos Joels</strong>, <em>Former Director</em>, Brazilian Forest Service</li>
<li><strong>Juan Chang</strong>, <em>Climate Change Senior Specialist</em>, Inter-American Development Bank</li>
<li><strong>Jenny Springer</strong>, <em>Director of Global Programs</em>, Rights and Resources Initiative</li>
</ul><div style="display:none;">Live Blog Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change</div>
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<p><strong>Hashtag: <a href="http://twubs.com/forestscc">#forestscc</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Follow:</strong><br />
• <a href="http://twitter.com/rightsresources">@RightsResources</a><br />
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<p><strong>Related reading:</strong><br />
• <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/07/qa-why-are-community-forests-so-important">Q&amp;A: Why Are Community Forests So Important?</a><br />
• <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/07/community-forests-undervalued-approach-climate-change-mitigation">Community Forests: An Undervalued Approach to Climate Change Mitigation</a><br />
• <a href="http://www.wri.org/news/2014/07/release-strengthening-community-forest-rights-critical-tool-fight-climate-change-says">Strengthening Community Forest Rights is Critical Tool to Fight Climate Change, Says Major New Report</a></p>
Danielle King<div class="field field--field-tags field--supplement"><label class="field__label">Tags:&nbsp;</label><span class="field__item odd"><a href="/tags/redd" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">REDD</a></span></div>Tue, 24 Jun 2014 17:54:38 +0000Laura Lee Dooley41848 at http://www.wri.org